1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a printer with a control panel, in which printer the housing or similar enclosure has a panel receptacle to hold the removable control panel, whereby the control panel is connected to the control components of the printer by means of a cable, or at least by means of a wireless infrared transmitter.
2. Background Information
Such a printer is preferably a thermal transfer printer. Thermal printers are generally very compact so that their placement on a desk, for example, typically does not pose any problems. Occasionally, however, the printer must be placed in a specific location which then makes operation of the printer difficult because the control panel is not easily accessible or visible. The poor visibility of the control panel can be a function of both the physical location of the printer and the lighting conditions, which under certain conditions can make it difficult to read the control panel display.
Japanese Patent 61-162663 discloses an electronic typewriter on which the keyboard, being connected to the typewriter by means of a cable, is located in a recess in the housing and can be removed from this recess. The inside dimensions of the recess correspond to the outside dimensions of the keyboard.
One disadvantage of such a design is that there is no mechanism to hold the keyboard in place, so that during transport, for example, the keyboard can become detached from the typewriter.